Love the look and feel of this bar/brewery. The place is really focused on the people and the beer without much in the way of tvs or electronic entertainment. Small but nice selection of beers brewed by Lunar on tap. Was somewhat difficult to determine what all else they had due to spaced out chalkboards with various items. Will definitely visit again.

Old school dive bar with a local friendly character which is dying other places. Selection of their beers are smaller because they are smaller, but they have a good selection of other ales to satisfy your pallet.

One of my favorite local places to go to. There is no kitchen because that is where they are brewing. Low lit atmosphere is perfect for just going in and having a couple of beers and enjoying them without all the raucous of annoying people talking about nothing. Large choice of craft beers definitely makes it easy for everyone to find something that they will like.

Lunar is a cool little corner neighborhood bar in the sleepy little 'burb of Villa Park. Walking in you're greeted by a long, old, wood bar with wood framed coolers running the entire length. A few tables line the opposite wall with a few more thrown in the back around a tiny stage. Tin signs cover the walls along with advertised beer prices such as Little Kings And Mickeys for $1.50. This place has that great, old school, worn in feeling like it has accumulated decor over the years instead of packing new junk in to make it seem old.

There are 5 Lunar taps that rotate and a handful (10?) of quality guest taps. Double Trouble, Grand Teton Oud Bruin, Boulevard Saison-Brett and Imp. Pilsner,and Bruery White Oak are a few of the taps available on my last visit. Lunar's own taps were Moondance, Cream Ale, Eclipse Stout on nitro, and a couple others. A good all around selection, many of which are not seen often on tap around Chicago. The bottle list is also impressive with some very hard to find bottles available.

Service is always great at Lunar. The bartenders are very engaging and friendly while more than willing to talk shop. There's not a friendlier bunch anywhere. No food is served, besides some spicy pickled eggs on the counter, but you can bring in your own. I'd recommend a trip out to Lunar for anyone within reasonable distance. The vibe makes this place but the quality taplist doesn't hurt either.

Lunar is heaven on earth. It is very reasonable and excellent. House brews change weekly and guest taps too. Lunar has a very good selection of beers. Service is wonderful and friendly. Bartenders Mark and Chuck know their stuff and are good dudes. Charlie the owner is a great guy too.

Price is what one would expect $5-6 for a lager/IPA/ Stout and $7-9 for specialty beers.

No food but it's BYOF (Bring your own Food), they have plenty of take out menus or bring in home cooked meals. I brought i a crock-pot of smoked chili for the entire place it was a good time.

"No B.S. Just Good Beer." I should copyright that quote and sell it back to Lunar, because it sums up their entire philosophy. Is Lunar a dive bar? Yes. Is that OK? Yes. Do they brew/stock good beer? Yes. And that's really all that matters.

Est. in 1998, Lunar is a neighborhood spot to be sure, but one that fits the definition nicely. The interior is a no-frills environment that is dominated by the color black and dim lighting. A long bar with stools stretches half the length of the place, the other half has tables, and there is a stage in the very back for bands to play on. Beer posters cover the walls and 2 TV's sit on either end of the bar. One feature that stood out was the old-school jukebox in a corner near the entrance of the bar.

Charlie, the owner/brewmaster, knows how to turn out some solid, quality brews. My favorite so far has been the Chili Pepper Porter brewed in collaboration with Carlyle Brewing Co. out of Rockford, IL. While these beers may not change your life, they are good and inexpensive considering their high quality. Most of the house taps are $5; the most expensive I've seen there was $6.

In addition to the house brews there are 11 guest taps that are constantly being rotated. The bottle selection is substantial, featuring rare/hard-to-find/obscure offerings from breweries around the country.

No food is offered except pub-snacks (chips, nuts, etc.). Frozen pizza is available and you can make up for the lack of taste with a drenching of Sriracha sauce. Last but not least is the...PICKLE-IN-A-BAG!!! The staff allows (and encourages) those with a real strike of hunger to bring in whatever cuisine you like or order out food from any of the surrounding restaurants. A few reviews down mentions a Mexican restaurant that is just up the road that is supposed to be delicious.

Service was what was to be expected at a dive bar. The bartender will be happy to inform on the different types of beers available and hook you up with a sample on request, but don't expect them to initiate conversation or have a long chat with you. Most of the patrons are locals who come here because it's good and it's close. I am not saying that this is an unfriendly place, but you might get the cold-shoulder-vibe if this is your first time coming here. Remember that it's a dive bar and a neighborhood bar and that is what dive bars and neighborhood bars are like. Knowing this going in will make your experience much better.

This is a great place to come and watch any sports game while having some quality beer. Perfect for taking in a baseball game and getting out of the heat on a hot summer day.

Lunar is my local craft brew pub, and personally love the atmosphere. They always have a fresh tap list that changes weekly sometimes multiple times in a week. TV's on the north and south side for the cubs and sox. The house brews are also consistently excellent. The food list is something to be desired but i don't go there to get food. If the tap list isn't to your liking they have a ample selection of bombers and bottles and are also listed on beermenus.com If you are in Villa Park this is a must stop.

You want to find the ultimate mix of corner bar with that homey feel and those high end really tasty craft brews? Then you want to stop here. Lunar is a great beer their house brews are fabulous. The guest taps are a rotating list of excellent choices. Heck the bottle list alone makes this place worth the stop. Ok so they serve frozen pizza but who cares. you come for the beer and the friendship not the food. Brad the brewer is always looking and experimenting on new ideas but their normal line up of constant and seasonal is out of this world.. in Lunar orbit so to say! ;) They are not a snob bar by any means. Drink a little kings if you want. Drink a A miller like if y ou like. if that is what you need to do. But you you want then expand your world Try one of the awesome brews that this talented crew creates. Stop in and say Hi to Chuck Charlie and Brad.

A beer bar in one of the truest sense of the word. The decorations, the layout, the selection, the look of the employees all say that its time to drink good beer.

Having a nice selection of their own homemade stuff, from a delicious Wee Heavy Scotch Ale served in a 21 oz thistle glass, to a tasty Cream Ale that is similar in name to a familiar one across the border, even though this was darker and creamier, to a simple lager that was not at all on the far side of goodness.

Plus, the guest taps are various and balanced, with a lot of familiar choices and some I had always said I would like to try. I even had a SNPA in the middle just to settle things down.

No food except for bar food: Pickle In A Bag!

But what gets me is the dedication to letting you know this is a beer bar. Over the tables are framed layouts of beer labels (just like my beer fridge at home) plus signs, flags and banners for every local and import, but not a single one of them made of BM or C.

I've been to Lunar a couple of times and will definitely be returning. Lunar is far from the glitz and trendiness of the City's brewpubs. These are the blue collar, West 'burb guys who got ahold of a homebrew kit and figured that shit out a couple of decades ago.

It is a dark, dank, faded creature that's a felt-shorn pool table and a condom machine away from being a true dive. That being said, it is clean, simple, and surprisingly homey.
The regulars consist of mildly hipsterish twenty-somethings and working class guys having their nightcaps. Sports on the TV and that typical barroom soundtrack on the speakers.

There is no food, ok? Beer nuts and frozen pizza to not qualify as a menu. I'll repeat a previous review's suggestion to drive for a couple of minutes and hit up "Rosticeria Los Fernandez". MY GOD, those tortas are excellent! Back on topic...
The beers at Lunar are always good, sometimes great, and never (yet) terrible. They've got a knack for making exceptional fruit beers, which is a rare talent among American brewers. All their beers are extremely reasonable and their guest taps (Chicagoland locals) are properly priced as well. Service is solid. Its order at the bar and the tender is a chill guy who will shoot the shit with you and anyone else about, sports, politics, beer, etc.

Overall, Lunar is a cool, unpretentious neighborhood establishment that provides for a great, straightforward hangout for beer lovers.

I love the vibe this place puts out. It's a dark, hipster-ish almost-dive located just outside of Chicago. There's a wide range of different types of people all congregating in the same place to drink some beer. A chalk board proudly proclaims the immense selection offered by the guys who buy the beer, who must have excellent taste. Some of the hardest to find beers in the country somehow find their way here either in the bottle or on tap, including their own.

Unfortunately, they were sort of between brew masters when I dropped by, and only had four of their own beers on tap. It featured a fairly standard stout, an unremarkable German alt, a barley wine I declined to try and an excellent blackberry imperial blonde. This impressive concoction was smooth, light, slightly fruity and an impressive 8%. Not that the number is really that high, but it certainly is for a fruited blonde.

They don't serve much food here, so I decided to pass on a taste. What they do offer is a small assortment of peanuts, chips and thin crust pizza that is probably frozen and popped into an oven somewhere.

But that's okay, they're not here for the food. They're here for the beer, and the servers are happy to tell you about them. I enjoyed the bartenders, so I'm giving them high marks as well.

Went on down here with my boy TMoney2591 to see what all the hullabaloo was about. First of all the faded sign made it look all the more rustic in appearance. Thank god I kinda knew where I was going. The atmosphere of the place would be considered a dank bar with some ornate wood used to disguise the place from its true form. The quality of the beers there were pretty good especially for a small brewpub as this was. For being a Tuesday afternoon the bar itself was still pretty full up of rowdy locals. The bartender that served us was a cool dude, answered our questions, but pretty much kept to himself. There was about 6 beers from Lunar that they had on tap plus 4 or 5 from other breweries such as Metropolitan. They had a pretty nice bottle list and a series of large refrigerators to hold the vast amounts they had. I always prefer them on tap, but you still have to respect the list. Not a bad place. I wouldn't mind going back for some new brews.

Dropped in down here on a lark with VDubb. The sign outside is quite faded, so unless you're really paying attention (or have a good GPS) you might miss it driving by. Inside, there is the bar and a small bit o' room that doesn't look as though it's seen too much action in a while. I will be harshly frank: Were it not for their brewing their own beer, this place would be one short step from a straight dive bar. But they do make their own beer, and it ain't that bad. They had six of their beers on-tap and a small but nice smattering of guest taps. They also had a fairly decent selection of guest bottles. We didn't get any food, but the menu wasn't really much anyway: bags of chips, beer nuts, and frozen pizzas. There was a TV present, but it was off. The people at the other end of the bar (the usual locals, from what I gather) provided a bit of entertainment via the dropping of eaves. Overall, the beers and everything else were pretty good, but nothing all too great. A nice bit of a stop, though I'm not sure I would make too many trips out here specifically for a visit.

I was recently on an outing in West Chicago for a week, and in desperate need of a watering hole, thanks to some fellow BA recommendations(as we as some from the locals) I found LUNAR, too bad there was only 2 days left in my trip before i did, because I loved this place.

The atmosphere was homey and very laid back. Kind of a smaller bar, w/ not a lot of tables, but ample for the clientel on the evening I was there. Lots of beer posters on the wall made a sud -lover like myself feel right at home.

The service was ok, nothing great, but considering the place was relatively busy, i'll cut them some slack. Not overly friendly, but not complete assholes either, just another day on the grind for the employees i guess...

The selection of bottled and draft beers isn't the best that I have seen in terms of quantity, but let me go ahead and say that nearly everyone of the beers that they do offer, are more than worthy, they had a solid Belgian line-up too. The in house made beers seemed to be the fave of the locals though, I was lucky enough to try 3, the Rasberry Cream, Spacecadet Stout, and the flagship IPA who's name i cannot recall. these were all solid brews. I didn't have any of the food, but the focus here was definately on beer. The menu looked like typical bar food, including peanuts and popcorn, and what could of been frozen pizza!

Overall value -reasonable prices, ok staff, and a very very solid list of beers and some kick-ass in house ones, back this up by a welcoming atmosphere...and we have a winner. I wish that i Lived in Illinois

Lunar Brewpub has a townie feel to it and a well worn-in aura, which makes it an interesting place to enjoy a couple brews. situated on the main street of a quiet suburb, the corner entrance opens onto an open space with the bar at the right and seating along the left. there is a small stage at the back, with a couple random arcade games and tables set up near the rear.

the atmosphere is somewhat halloween-esque with a small town bar feel. moons and stars are around in various media, with large moon tap handles at the bar. the music was a bit dark and almost carnival like in its mood, which fits in with the asthetics.

quality and service are mediocre. there were two bartenders, one of which was the miller for the brewery, and was very friendly and open to discuss beer. the other was quite slow and had no idea what was going on as far as service goes. apparently one has to 'take the good with the bad' regarding service sometimes. quality was good, with proper glassware for about half of the beers, but the pours were to the brim of the glassware (all poured from the poor bartender), so no heads formed on any of the beers.

selection was good. many guest bottles of craft beer are available, with some hard to find and specialty brews available, and six offerings from Lunar. the Lunar brews were unique, with an oatmeal pale ale, a raspberry ale, an imperial IPA, a blonde doppelbock and an oak-aged stout. This BA had the Oatmeal Pale and the Oak-Aged Stout, and both were good, but nothing special.

food is available, but there is no kitchen, just frozen pizzas, and various nuts, beef sticks and cheese.

overall, this is a decent stop for beer, because in addition to the Lunar beer there is a healthy selection of guest taps and bottles. the beer seems to be lacking a bit in quality, but that doesn't mean the place should be avoided.

I blew into Lunar Brewing around 2pm on a Friday night. The bar was almost filled with rawkus regulars. A good 3-4 minutes went by with no bartender in sight. Upon showing up, he informed me that they don't do flights of their beers. Oh well, you can't have everything.

A fairly unique lineup of a Steam, Oatmeal, Nut Brown, IPA, Raspberry Cream Ale, Irish Red, and Scotch Ale. The Steam was solid, and it's use of Cascade hops was interesting break from the norm.

Food here consisted of snacks behind the bar. Slim Jims, nuts, etc. They had pizza as well, but it's not made on premise. This upset me only because I was starving, almost literally. Ok, not literally, but I was damn hungry for real food.

The atmosphere left a lot to be desired, on a few levels. Rowdy drunkards drinking liquor, and a woman playing the jukebox, and only picking the slowest and saddest songs. I never felt so depressed in a bar. Thankfully Lunar also had Surly Grit 16 on tap, which lifted me out of my funk before I left.

But overall, awesome beer. And that's what I was after. If you're in the area, you'd be a fool not to stop.

I never find myself in this part of the area, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity when a friend was stopping in for a short trip to the northwest suburbs. I had always heard good things about it, and was definitely not let down. This is a really confortable corner bar with a kick ass selection of guest taps and their own stuff. Had a nice straightforward IPA, a slightly snappy vienna lager, and the porter on nitrogen (even though I'm never a big fan of anything served on nitrogen). The bartender was very attentive and was proud to bring over samples of their big stuff: a barrel aged RIS (very smooth, sort of vanilla-y) and an exceptional barrel aged IIPA which won a silver (?) medal at the most recent FOBAB. Also, big ups on one of my rare pet pleasures: a floor urinal.

All in all a very pleasant place that merits return visits if it was closer.

My friends and I stopped in over the weekend. It was our first time here and we almost passed it up!

Nice little corner lot with plenty of parking. Lit "Lunar Brewing" signs hang over the doors inviting you in. When you step inside you'll notice some tall tables on the right and a bar on the left. There's a small stage area in the back of the space. There is a lot of wood trim and brewania and moon/space themed junk hanging from the ceiling and on the walls. There were just a few other people sitting at the bar when we got there, but it filled up fast.

Service was friendly and fast.

Beer selection was pretty decent. They had some great Midwestern beers along with some fine West and East coast breweries on tap and in bottles. I tried their mango wit and their oatmeal stout, which were both tasty. I had a snifter of their barrel aged batch 500(dipa) which was great!

They don't serve food other than frozen pizzas, I think. We brought of our own food in and were fine.

It's a great little place to check out if you're in the area. Lot's of great beers and friendly people. I look forward to taking another trip here soon.

Just stopped by this place today. Parked in backed. Noted hops growing on the side of the place. Good sign. Walk in and it looks like a regular hole in the wall bar. First tap I see is LaGunits Brown Shugga'. This place is gonna be good. So its a microbrew with an amazing guest tap list. Highlights include Surly Furious, Dark Horse Perkulator, Backwoods Bastard, etc. Bartender mentioned they had a barrel of Darkness in the back and were finding the right time to tap it. Great local place with a top notch guest list. Would certainly go back.

2012: They keep up with beermenus pretty regularly...
http://www.beermenus.com/places/2162-lunar-brewing-co

2008:
Stopped in last sunday...plenty of folks in attendance, sox on the tv. Blonde doppelbock on tap, also Lunar Eclipse, ESB. Highlights on tap were Hop Stoopid, Allagash Four, and Surly. Plenty to choose from, they have a well rounded selection, and friendly people tend to hang out here.

Original review 12-03-2007:

My trips here have only been on sunday afternoons, i'd imagine it's more lively on a night they have live music. It's dark with wood paneling, lots of craft beer signage, framed labels, and a nice bar with wooden cabinets. Bathrooms are relatively clean for such a divey place. Parking in the rear which is a plus. Random moon-related knick-knacks adorn the walls behind the bar. It's homey, with a dark, worn-in feeling. Feels like an old man bar revamped and outfitted with a brewpub.

House beers are always interesting and seasonally rotated. Guest taps focus on US craft with some quality imports thrown in. Last time I got myself into trouble with the Goose IIPA...any BAs present may recall this. This visit was more respectable, and I finally tried their mango-infused ale, which was great. They do some creative brewing with fruit here, hope to try their Oud Bruin with whole cherries someday. Bartender was really friendly and offered tastes of the house offerings.

Make a point to stop here if you live in Chicago, or are travelling through the western burbs. I've walked here from the nearest Metra stop, which isn't too far. Bring food with you if you're hungry. In the area i'd recommend BBQ/Mexican from Rosticeria los Fernandez in Elmhurst, next door to Corner Cottage.

Lunar is a small oasis in an otherwise featureless and rather desolate western suburb of Chicago. The building looks as if it might collapse at any moment and you could be forgiven for thinking it was shut; we did the first time we visited.

It's very much a neighborhood kind of place; you might say working class; and has absolutely no pretensions or frills. Their own beer is good, and it is augmented by an excellent array of guests on tap as well as a copious range of bottles. They are serious about beer, although it seems many of the customers are happy with their Bud Lite. I just don't get it.

Service can be a little iffy if the regulars are in force and you are an outsider. There is no food, but you can bring in from outside I believe. It's great to have it as an option to flogging down to the city.

This is my kinda bar! It's small, cozy, and the people who work there are really laid back. There is a space up front for sitting at the bar, and a space further back for bands to play.

The bar looks like it has a full assortment of booze in a addition to a large number of beers on tap. They had quite a few really nice guest beers on tap and in bottles.

I was extremely impressed with the service and the beers. Since they dont' offer food we had pizza delivered to us and they pulled tables together for us. I was there for my bachelor party, and we had a great time. I am really, really impressed with this joint despite high prices!

Where to begin...
The atmosphere in the place is excellent. Looked like a old time local establishment. Chalkboard listed a variety of craft beers and imports. We were there to drink their beers. Maybe we should have gone with the beers on the board.

Clean your beer lines lately? The Moondance Pale was undrinkable. It's been a long time since I haven't at least finished a beer, but both my friend and I left at least 2/3 in the glass.

I'd probably go back just to enjoy some of the beers on the board and to drink in the atmosphere, but I'm going to stay away from their house brews.